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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, November 7, 1980
Page 15
Another piece of good news is that the "Bible Story," by the late Basil
Wolverton, will be published by the Church in a new style three-volume set
which will be made available to individual church members and families.
These three volumes will contain all the original material and have a high
gloss color cover.
--Publishing Services
ON THE WORLD SCENE
AMERICA UNDER REAGAN: HOW MUCH CHANGE? Landslide '80 for Ronald Reagan
could prove to be the crossroads election in American history. Will
President-elect Reagan, who conducted his campaign, in part, as a "cru
sade" to get America moving again, be able to restore America's pride
overseas, and to free the American people from the shakles of a suffocat
ing bureaucracy?
Mr. Reagan certainly received an overwhelming mandate to make such an
attempt at national restoration. Not since the election of 1932 had an
incumbe�t president suffered such a massive repudiation at the polls.
Along with Mr. Carter, several pivotal liberal senators were also buried
under the wreckage. Republicans wrested control of the U.S. Senate, some
thing they have not had for the past 26 years.
The scope of the landslide stunned the pollsters. Only the Lou Harris
agency came close to predicting the outcome. Many experts now believe
that Mr. Reagan probably won the televised "Great Debate," held one week
before the election, by a bigger margin than previously thought. The
very magnitude of Reagan's victory (over 8 million more popular votes and
489 electoral votes to Mr. Carter's 49) indicate there were many silent
Reagan and Reagan-leaning supporters, those who perhaps never betrayed
their intentions to the pollsters. ABC's nationwide "exit poll" of voters
revealed perhaps the true state of Mr. Carter's unpopularity. Surveyors
found that if the race had only been between the President and independent
candidate John Anderson, Mr. Carter would have lost that one too--49% to
46%!
Of course it's much too early to tell whether Mr. Reagan will be able to
put back together the pieces of America's shattered foreign policy.
(Columnist George Will says it is a mistake to say Mr. Carter failed
because he had no foreign policy. He had a foreign policy--so-called
''human rights," scaling down U.S. defense requirements, a general appease
ment of Communist imperialism. This the voters resoundingly rejected.)
The Soviets are certain to test Mr. Reagan somewhere soon, as they have
done nearly all U.S. presidents. Will the Kremlin even take advantage
of the 2 1/2 month Washington interregnum to forcibly put an end to the
"Polish experiment?"
Mr. Reagan's talk of scrapping SALT II and forcing the Kremlin into a
substitute SALT III deal is perhaps unattainable campaign rhetoric. The
Soviets have striven hard to achieve at least military parity with arch
rival Washington and are not about to let their growing advantage slip
now.